Marcelo Defends that US is a Priority and Admits New Connections in Energy

Lisbon, 03 Dec (Lusa) – The President of the Republic today defended that the United States of America “is a priority for Portugal” and considered that the two countries could “have new connections in the area of energy in the future, who knows.

“The head of state spoke at the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon at the launch of the book “Ten Million and One” by the former US ambassador to Portugal, Robert Sherman, a work edited by Atual.

On the eve of receiving the President of China, Xi Jinping, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa pointed to Portugal as “one of the very few” countries in Europe that “can fully understand” the United States of America and “that are truly transatlantic.”

“We are very special, and we can work together in Africa, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region,” he added.

As soon as he arrived in Portugal, the first question they asked Robert Sherman, the ambassador elected by Barack Obama, was whether the Americans had a bad idea of the Portuguese. He answered promptly, “No, the Portuguese have a bad idea of themselves. The Americans do not even know where Portugal is. “

It is armed with his charismatic sense of humor that the former US ambassador presents us with his portrait of Portugal and the Portuguese.

In a speech almost all in English, the head of state said: “We Portuguese, we love the United States of America.

“Regarding the content of Robert Sherman’s book, presented on the cover as the “ambassador of Obama” in Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa praised him but expressed disagreement about the chapter on the president of the Regional Government of the Azores and the Lajes base.

In his opinion, the author “was a little unfair towards President Vasco Cordeiro” – described as someone who “showed very little respect” for his interlocutors at the meetings and who had a “very inadequate” behavior – because the two ” never understood each other, never.

“On the other hand, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that Robert Sherman “exaggerates in the credits of the Portuguese President”.

“But those are small details in an unforgettable book,” he said.

In his opinion, this book is also a way of remembering that Luso-American relations are “a strategic priority” for both countries and therefore thanked the author Bob Sherman and his wife, Kim.

“You are a priority for Portugal and we are, or at least should be, a priority for the United States of America, but at the same time it is a way to inspire an even stronger alliance, an even stronger friendship,” he said.

According to the President of the Republic, “there is no change of regime, there is no change of head of state, government or ambassadors that can shake this friendship so powerful.”

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